Bellevue, WA September 27, 2001 In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, many began to speculate that online collaboration would receive a boost as companies and employees sought to avoid travel, at least for the time being. In a development that seems to vindicate those claims, Web-based learning solutions company Knowledge Anywhere said that its Web site traffic has more than doubled in the last two weeks as companies appear to search for communication alternatives that keep employees off airplanes and conserve tight dollars in a tight economy.
Further evidence of this trend surfaced in a survey last week conducted by Elliott Masie, editor of TechLearn Trends newsletter, when 47 percent of organizations polled reported they canceled scheduled training and noted an increase in the use of digital collaboration tools such as Web-based learning applications. Several corporations said their previous focus of using technology for training and collaboration was reaffirmed by recent events. In addition, training planners busy planning next year's budgets said they are now turning to learning technologies areas where there has not been a strong corporate appetite before.
Web-based learning companies, previously used for training, are now fielding corporate requests for pre-meeting prep sites as an adjunct to conference calls, as well as outplacement education options in response to mass layoffs. With common needs like reduced travel, flexibility and speed, companies are demonstrating agility as they seek out and deploy new ways to transfer knowledge to their employees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via Web-based e-learning solutions. Knowledge Anywhere said it has seen its revenues increase by 63 percent in the past year, as a result of such a shift in business.